I can almost always find a silver lining in a dark and stormy cloud. But I’ve got to be honest – the storms that are brewing over Ontario with the Ford government scare the hell out of me because the damage will take decades to repair, if they can be repaired at all.

This is a war on the poor and the casualties will be monumental.

I read with utter disgust the guest column in the Toronto Sun by Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod trying to justify the government’s decisions to axe the Basic Income Pilot Project (despite a campaign promise not to) and reduce by half the incoming 3 per cent increase to social assistance recipients. She carefully omitted other ominous changes to the program, such as draining TFSAs and RRSPs, forcing people into complete destitution before they can apply for the “safety net” of Ontario Works, which is less like a net and more like a few strands of dental floss woven together.

Now I know what you’re thinking. If people have money saved, they should use it. And they would need to with the paltry amount that social assistance provides. Without it, we are adding the tremendous risk factors of homelessness, food insecurity, and precarious health.

Ontario Works (OW) pays a maximum of $721 per month and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) pays up to $1,151 per month. We shouldn’t punish those caught in the system for being in a system that was created by government.

We’ve got to get over the mindset that people who are on OW or ODSP are lazy and refuse to work. There are many layers to poverty, the problem isn’t simply black and white. Pointing to your own hard scrabble upbringing doesn’t allow you to compare yourself to anyone else. That’s your story.

After the scrapping of cap and trade, London and other cities are now dealing with the cancellation of the Social Housing Apartment Improvement Program (SHAIP) and the GreenON Social Housing Program, programs that would improve living conditions and provide energy savings for those living in poverty. Those municipalities that already started projects on these commitments now have to find the money from somewhere else. But, hey, the poor are resilient and municipalities have endless pots of money, right Premier Ford?

The PCs have declared they will have a plan in 100 days that will solve the poverty issues in Ontario. How very ambitious. I didn’t realize that when you won a majority government, the gig came with magic wands. I declare that this is a systematic theft of the quality of life from people who do not have the resources to fight back against a government that ironically declared themselves “for the people.”

You’ll never improve our quality of life or grow our economy by arrogantly believing you have all the answers and starving the very people you pledged to support. And this is just the beginning.